The Montclair Cooperative School students, grades 5 through 8, will celebrate Wind Day with a festival. Students will display the wind-powered sculptures they’ve been designing all year with the help of an artist in residence. The sculptures are inspired by “whirligig” sculptures from around the world, and use principles of science, technology, engineering and math to move with the wind and express beauty, fun, ideas, and emotion.
Since December, nationally exhibited professional artist Ben Pranger has been engaged with students at the Montclair Cooperative School in a unique cross-disciplinary arts project funded by an award from the NJ State Council on the Arts. The project is part of the Arts Council’s Artists in Education Residency Grant Program and has immersed Montclair Cooperative School students in learning about art and science and creating their own wind-powered kinetic sculptures that they will unveil during a “Wind Day” festival. The sculptures will remain on display for several weeks.
This is the second consecutive year Montclair Cooperative School has received this prestigious Artists in Education Grant from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. The award created a residency for Mr. Pranger to work on-site each week for a 20-week period.